The Corporation of Hamilton barred The Royal Gazette from attending part of a public committee meeting so that financial details of a controversial trip to Jamaica could be discussed behind closed doors.

Members of the municipality’s Staff, Legislative and Governance Committee met at City Hall yesterday morning. A Royal Gazette reporter also attended the meeting and was initially allowed to stay.

But when the committee reached the penultimate item on its agenda — ‘Reimbursement of Air Fare to Jamaica’ — councillor Keith Davis, who was chairing the meeting, announced there would be a five-minute break. He added that, after the interval, the meeting would enter a “closed session” and that any members of the press or public still in the Mayor’s chamber would be forced to leave.

When The Royal Gazette asked why he had closed the meeting to the public, Mr Davis replied that other matters on the order paper were of a “restrictive and sensitive nature”. The only other item on the agenda apart from the Jamaica trip was ‘Any Other Business’.

When the Gazette reporter asked Mr Davis to explain his decision further, he referred the reporter to the Corporation’s meeting guidelines.

Mr Davis was supported by Hamilton Mayor Graeme Outerbridge, who had just arrived at the meeting and pointed out that, as chairman of the committee, Mr Davis could use his “discretion” to ban the public from attending certain parts of the session.

However, according to the council’s own guidelines, elected officials can only close a meeting to the public under specific conditions.

The regulations, posted on the municipality’s website, read: “The Council and the Committees have authority to close meetings to the public as they relate to the following items.

“Legal matters, including privileged legal discussions and enforcement of certain laws; Sales or purchase strategy; Personnel issues, including union negotiations; or Security of the property of the municipality.”

The guidelines go on: “The Council and the Committees shall use discretion when using closed sessions because too many closed sessions may lead to false impressions and suspicions. Open discussions, even the uncomfortable ones, stimulate the free exchange of information with citizens and build trust between decision makers and the public.”

And the guidelines also lay out strict procedures that councillors must follow when moving into a closed session. A motion to bar the public must be put forward which requires a majority vote in order to come into effect. No motion was put forward or voted on when Mr Davis announced yesterday’s closed session.

The Royal Gazette has been asking for details of the Corporation’s July trip to Jamaica for several month, but so far the municipality has failed to answer questions.

This newspaper understands that four elected officials — Deputy Mayor Donal Smith, aldermen Gwyneth Rawlins and Carlton Simmons, and councillor George Scott — along with a Corporation administrator — flew to the Caribbean to attend the launch of a book on the life of James ‘Dick’ Richards, a Jamaican with links to Bermuda.

The Gazette has been unable to discover how much the trip cost ratepayers or the length of time councillors spent in Jamaica.

Mayor Outerbridge had earlier explained that the Corporation felt obliged to send four municipality representatives to the book signing because four delegates from Black Water in Jamaica attended a town-twinning ceremony in Hamilton last year.

But according to Corporation insiders, Government ruled that just two councillors should take the trip at the expense of the ratepayer — and that any other councillors going to Jamaica should cover their own costs.

It is understood that the issue was to be discussed at yesterday’s meeting — once the press had been removed from the chamber.

Ironically, according to Mayor Outerbridge, when the matter did eventually come up for debate in the closed session yesterday, it was deferred to another date.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Outerbridge was unable to pinpoint why exactly Mr Davis had blocked The Gazette from attending the full session.

He added that he was sure Mr Davis “had his reasons” and that the Corporation “has nothing to hide”.

However, last December then-Ombudsman Arlene Brock criticised the municipality for failing to be open and accountable and claimed that Corporation business was “being conducted in secret caucus meetings”.

Those findings prompted Government to impose a set of financial instructions and a code of conduct for the Team Hamilton administration to adopt in the interested of good governance.

Informed of yesterday’s meeting, a Home Affairs Ministry spokesman last night said: “The Ministry of Home Affairs is aware of the trip to Jamaica by the Deputy Mayor and one other Corporation member, and only provided approval for those two individuals to travel.

“The public will be aware that to ensure good governance, the Ministry implemented a series of financial instructions for the Corporation which should be adhered to. And the Ministry deems any contravention of those guidelines to be concerning?.

“As such, it would be a breach of those financial instructions to provide reimbursement to any Councilman of the Corporation who was not authorised by the Ministry to travel on the Jamaica trip.

“As it relates to the Corporation closing its meetings to the public, the Ministry advised that it has committed to supporting the Mayor of Hamilton in his efforts to operate the Corporation, and therefore has asked that he manage his meetings in accordance with the guidelines the Ministry has provided to ensure open and transparent deliberations.

“Any specific queries regarding the conduct of the Corporation meetings should be fielded with the Mayor of Hamilton.”